My part verses God’s part of Zechariah 9:11-13

​“As for you also, because of the blood of My covenant with you, I have set your prisoners free from the waterless pit. Return to the stronghold, O prisoners who have the hope; This very day I am declaring that I will restore double to you. For I will bend Judah as My bow, I will fill the bow with Ephraim. And I will stir up your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Greece; And I will make you like a warrior’s sword.”

‭‭Zechariah‬ ‭9‬:‭11‬-‭13‬ ‭NASB1995‬‬

https://bible.com/bible/100/zec.9.11-13.NASB1995

These verses have a special meaning for me. Back in August 2016, God spoke these verses to me about my marriage declaring that He would return double to me. Double what I do not know but that is His worry, not mine. 

As with most if not all promises, there is a requirement for God to do His part. 

My job: 

Return to the stronghold prisoners who have the Hope!

His Job: 

Set the prisoners free from the waterless pit

Resort double

Bend Judah as a bow

Fill the bow with Ephraim 

Stir up your sons against Greece

Make you like a warrior’s sword

Our job is to return to the stronghold those of you who have hope. Where does our Hope lie? 

“How blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, Whose hope is in the Lord his God,”

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭146‬:‭5‬ ‭NASB1995‬‬

https://bible.com/bible/100/psa.146.5.NASB1995

So we are to return to God who is our hope! No matter how hopeless the things of the world seem. God is the eternal safety of Hope! God desires a relationship with us and is wanting to correct bad behavior, reinforce good behavior, and be the source of hope in our everyday lives!

And if we do then He will continue to fulfill His part of the Blood Covenant with us. He will set the captives free from their waterless places and renew them with living water. Do you have loved ones who are lost and done with God? We are to be the example of hope for them. 

“Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” 

She *said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep; where then do You get that living water? 

“Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”

‭‭John‬ ‭4‬:‭10‬-‭11‬, ‭14‬ ‭NASB1995‬‬

https://bible.com/bible/100/jhn.4.11.NASB1995

The Devil loves to take. God loves to give. For the Devil is a thief and will make him give an account of what he has stolen. God’s law requires that what is stolen must be paid back double.

“If a man gives his neighbor money or goods to keep for him and it is stolen from the man’s house, if the thief is caught, he shall pay double.”

‭‭Exodus‬ ‭22‬:‭7‬ ‭NASB1995‬‬

https://bible.com/bible/100/exo.22.7.NASB1995

It will be charged to the Devil’s account and God will make sure that it is paid!

God will bend Judah, praise, as a bow turning praise into a weapon filled with Ephraim, leadership. Ephraim was the hometown of Samuel’s dad and God was working on setting them up as leaders through Samuel, but Samuel neglected to properly train his sons in following God. So he removed them from authority until three kings later. After Solomon died God rose up Jeroboam an Ephraimite to be the ruler of the northern 10 tribes called Israel. 

“Then Jeroboam the son of Nebat, an Ephraimite of Zeredah, Solomon’s servant, whose mother’s name was Zeruah, a widow, also rebelled against the king.”

‭‭1 Kings‬ ‭11‬:‭26‬ ‭NASB1995‬‬

https://bible.com/bible/100/1ki.11.26.NASB1995

So He will fill us with praise that is a weapon of leadership among His people and against those of Greece. Greece represents the contrary world to God. Once again protecting us who have the hope. For those who don’t know one of my daughters is excellent with a bow and arrow. Which I find comforting that God will use for His glory someday. 

God will make us like a warrior’s sword. One of my favorite weapons is the sword. I love the fact that God’s word is a double-edged sword. But he will make us a warrior’s sword in His hand, the ultimate warrior. That we will be useable to tear down the strongholds that hold people in waterless places and draws them to the cistern of living water!

“For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭4‬:‭12‬ ‭NASB1995‬‬

https://bible.com/bible/100/heb.4.12.NASB1995

“In His right hand He held seven stars, and out of His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword; and His face was like the sun shining in its strength.”

‭‭Revelation‬ ‭1‬:‭16‬ ‭NASB1995‬‬

https://bible.com/bible/100/rev.1.16.NASB1995

Will we hang on to God’s hope to see Him restore double? Or will we give in and experience lack as the devil continues to take from us? 

“Return to the stronghold, O prisoners who have the hope; This very day I am declaring that I will restore double to you”